A Dei-Dei Grade 1 Area Court, Abuja, has sentenced a 22-year-old motorcyclist, Aron Sunday, to 10 months in the correctional centre for stealing property worth N700,000.
The court sentenced Sunday, a resident of Dutse Jabu in Abuja, after he pleaded guilty to the three-count charge of criminal trespass, house breaking, and theft preferred against him.
The Judge, Saminu Suleiman, however, gave the convict an option of payment of N40,000 fine.
Suleiman also ordered the convict to pay N700,000 to the complainant.
The judge warned the convict to be of good behaviour and desist from committing crime after serving his jail term.
He said the punishment would have been stiffer if the convict had not saved the court the rigour of protracted Prosecution.
Earlier, the prosecution counsel, Chinedu Ogada, told the court that the complainant, Fagbemi Peter and Yemi Ayeni, both of Dutse Jabu, Abuja, reported the matter at Dutse Alhaji Police Station on Nov. 12.
Ogada said on the same date about 4.00a.m the convict criminally trespassed into the complainant’s compound by jumping over the fence and broke into his bedroom through the ceiling, but was caught.
He said the defendant had broken into the complainant’s house on two previous occasions and made away with his savings box containing N300,000, irons, electric wires, electric socket, pumping machine, wall light, all valued N700,000.
He said that some time later in October the defendant and others now at large also criminally went to Ayeni’s shop and stole her Techno POP7 phone and her purse containing N120,000 and escaped.
Ogada stated that during police interrogation and investigation, the convict confessed to the crime and
The offences, he said, contravened Sections 348 and 288 of the Penal Code.